UnemployedVillain
Member
Aren't you the one making a big deal about portability here or are you changing your argument? Cost matters a lot more with portables.
I'm not changing my argument. You were talking about affordability aka cost, right? I think cost and portability are related, but that relationship changes drastically depending on how the system is marketed.
For instance, tablets are marketed as powerful devices that can mimic (to an extent) your laptop experience in a smaller form factor. They have the software, and the general look and feel that makes them look like high end devices.
When you look at how dedicated gaming handhelds have been marketed up to this point, they've very much been from the get go market as portable devices offering different experiences from consoles. Even the PSP and Vita, which Sony tried to differentiate from that "elevating handhelds out of the gaming ghetto" feel apart under scrutiny when people say the console lite versions of games they were getting, so they still ended up being seen in the same light as Nintendo's handhelds to the average consumer. Not to mention Sony not really giving a shit about them didn't help.
It's why I think Nintendo is pushing the idea that it's a console that you can take on the go. They're positioning it similar to tablets, as powerful devices the mimic those of stationary or "bigger" computers, but in a smaller, more portable, form factor.
Obviously these are my thoughts, but the difference in marketing between the Switch and Nintendo's previous handhelds (or Sony's) is night and day